Bradley7735....thankyou for your insightful comments. I hope you are right about BB Mutsu and that she sank.....unfortunately she was in the Rabaul hex when I bombed her so we will see.

Nevertheless......BB Mutsu and BB Yamashiro...if not sunk......should be out of action for the upcoming critical period of the war where Japan will be conducting offensive ops both to isolate Australia and then invade Australia in spring 1942. Up until BB Yamato enters the war......we now should have BB parity with Japan...the IJN is now able to field 8 BBs while the USN has 4 pre-war BBs and the RN has BB PoW, BB Warspite and 2 R class BBs available. The Allies have a slight advantage in CAs and a huge advantage in CLs. Im estimating that Japan now has...or will soon have....7 CVs, 3 CVLs and 3 CVEs. The Allies now have 5 CVs and 1 CVL and CV Hornet should put out to sea on the east coast US in 15 days. Im currently shaping the naval battlefield off the E coast of Oz and New Zealand/New Caledonia/Fiji and hopefully will be able to base enough land based AC to offset Japan's carrier air advantage.

2/11-2/12/42

Quiet turn overall.

RABAUL

The USN carriers withdraw to the SE and Dave hits them with additional A6M2s that are staged into Rabaul and Shortlands:

This confirms my decision to withdraw the carriers.....the Allies are critically short of naval fighters until the F4F-4s start going into production in 4/42 and even with the lousy F2A-3 Buffaloes it is important for the USN to hang on to each and every naval fighter available.

MALAYA

Japan resorts to bombardment attacks this turn at Singapore.....the IJA troops there must be accumulating some heavy disruption.

PHILIPPINES

The Allied advance to northern Luzon is accomplishing its goals....Dave switched his bomber targeting from Clark to the Allied LCUs and Clark....which has been bombed daily from 12/7/41 to present......increases its fortification level to 2.

DEI

Japan invades at Oosthaven. I am leaving this invasion unopposed and prefer to hunker down in across the river in Palembang. I have some 420 AV in Palembang and should be able to mass another 1200 AV in Batavia. This isnt enough to stop Japan on either island but it is enough to attract substantial Japanese forces and should bloody them quite a bit by the time all is said and done......trading Dutch troops and space for time....the passage of time is Japan's greatest threat.

Ive attached a screenshot of Java.....mini KB and KB are tag teaming Java and have virtually eliminated the Dutch air force....too bad for Japan there are no other carriers available to cover their advances or buildups in other theatres.

Over 19,000 Allied troops are marched off into POW camps....few will ever return to their homeland. This was a very good move on Dave's part. I had level 2 forts at Singapore and was well on the way to level 3 and a continuation of the deliberate attacks would have kept me alive in Singapore for another week or so. The only downside to Japan of the shock attack was the damage to port and industrial facilities...there was over a 30 point hit to Singapore's infrastructure including the shipyard so Dave did pay a price for this.

Meanwhile....the 7 plus IJA divisions at Singapore have suffered massive casualties.....over 1450 squads have been disabled/destroyed. Ive massed over half a dozen subs off the approaches to Singapore to interdict IJN troop transports.

To paraphrase the 80's band "Haircut 100" the big question remains.....where will they go from here?

ST. VALENTINE'S MASSACRE IN CHINA

Dave caught me offguard in the forest S of Sian and launched a massive frontal assault:

Dave had just moved into the hex and I had no idea he had massed this much AV....he also probably had no idea how much AV I had in the hex. I had over 1600 of my 4500 AV in reserve thinking there would be no way that Dave would attack me in 3x terrain without a recon attack......and of course all the Chinese LCUs failed the die roll to intervene. Now we both lost 700 AV so now its 5000 Japanese AV to 3900 Chinese AV.

So Im trying to do the math....if Japan has 5700 AV in the forest N of Nanyang.......2000 AV around Hangkow/Wuchang....2000 AV around Kaifeng/Chengchow/Loyang and 1500 at Canton.....how much free AV can Japan have now outside of the garrison requirements to threaten me in the south or the extreme north?

Dave is slowly opening a crack in my lines in the far north with massive air strikes......my low on supply units dont seem to be putting up much resistance now. Once Japan breaks through in the far north I dont think they can be stopped from taking over all of western China.

I cant seem to draw supplies from my western cities to Kweisui so hopefully Japan cant draw supplies in the opposite direction.

DEI

Japan captures Cocos Is. and Oosthaven. As stated before I will remain dug in in Palembang and let Japan shock attack across the river and then we will see how much damage Palembang's oil facilities suffer.

Japan lands multiple invasions on Java at locations I cant find without Mapquest.....Tjepoe and Loemadjang. Ive left eastern Java open so there is no way to stop this and its just time to hanker down in Batavia and await the inevitable. Ive moved most of my fighters in the DEI from Java to Palembang to escape KB/miniKB and I just upgraded the 1st Dutch fighter unit to HurricaneIIB Trops so hopefully this evens the odds just a bit.

SOPAC/CENTPAC

Japan captures Makin and Goodenough Is.

Dave moved over 140 naval bombers into Rabaul and Shortlands so its a good thing I got the USN CVs out of Dodge.

PHILIPPINES: MACARTHUR MOVES NORTH

Ahhhhh....I like this theatre. Three more blockade running xAKs arrive at Naga/Legaspi and deliver another 10,000 supplies. American /Philippino troops liberate Tuguegaro and mass for the assault on San Fernando.

Im still flying in troops to Luzon from the other islands and I know that this is mostly window dressing.....hopefully if I make things look really bad here Dave will commit 1 or 2 of the divisions now freed up in Singapore.

Regardless of siphoning off Japan's offensive assets the 2 main benefits I have derived here from MacArthur's northern advance are:

1)Dave had held me to level 1 forts at Clark since the start of the war with daily bombing...now the forts at Clark will reach level 3 next turn and if I keep up the pressure in the north maybe I can get the forts at Clark up to level 4 or 5 for the final festung on Luzon

2)My suppies are now dispersed all over Luzon so if Japan bombs any one city and destroys a % of supplies at that base the overall effect on Allied supplies on Luzon will be greatly reduced.

Quite a difference between the 2 combat results and unfortunately since Dave has the host machine the 2nd result is the one that counts. Now Dave is sending the rest of his armor.....8 regiments...... from the Nanyang/Sian highway to exploit the Nanyang/Ankang highway and I just trashed my defenders. His armor withdrew from the forest and reached Nanyang this turn and Ive staged over 50 RAF bombers from India into China to hit his armor next turn....they should be in move mode and hopefully I can switch them back to combat mode and slow them down until I can bring some reinforcements into Ankang.

The Chinese defensive line continues to crumble in the far north and I am debating whether to defend western China or withdraw to central China and write off the west. Im pulling about 1000 AV from the 7200 AV in the forests around Sian and sending them west for now.

DEI

Ive attached a screenshot of Java....Japan is now ashore at 4 different bases in central/eastern Java and the Dutch have mostly withdrawn to the western portion of the island.

KB has disappeared from my radar screen and who knows when or where they will appear next. Ive evacuated shipping from Perth and will begin evacuating shipping from Ceylon and of course Ive put out the obligatory picket ships at both ports.

A little break in the action so I have some time for AAR housekeeping. A little over 2 months into the war and AC losses are almost equal. The Allies have lost 1055 AC vs 1053 Japanese AC.

Here is a screenshot of Japanese AC losses. Notice the high operational losses for the A6M2s and the Nates.....Dave has been doing a lot of long range LRCAP. I dont care about the loss of individual plane types so much but look at the attrition of the highly skilled Japanese pre-war pilots:

And finally here is a screenshot of the top Allied aces. Notice that 12 of the top 17 pilots are from the 24th PG. The 24th PG/17thPS fought its way from the Philippines to China. The 24th PG/21stPS fought its way from the Philippines to the DEI to Australia.

Im sure that you will now see the British Hurricane pilots advance in the rankings over the next couple of months.

The AVG had been severely depleted in China....maybe 30 of the original 81 AC were still operational a week ago. Last turn I was able to upgrade the AVG 1st Squadron to P-40Es and in about 3 weeks I should be able to upgrade a 2nd AVG squadron to P-40Es.

CL Sumatra arrived as a reinforcement last turn in Soerabaja port of all places......Japan has captured bases on both sides of Soerabaja and IJA troops are now just outside the base.

KB is off the south coast of Sumatra while mini-KB is off Pakemasan. I can send CL Sumatra on a death ride to face KB to the SW or E to face mini KB. Japan has tons of invasion shipping off the east tip of Java and at Pamekasan so I elected to send CL Sumatra E where she stood a better chance of escape from mini-KB as opposed to KB plus maybe even if she was sunk at dawn she could shoot up a couple of amphibious TFs during the night.

Just after CL Sumatra leaves Soerabaja harbor she gets into combat with an IJN surface TF:

Mini-KB managed to escape from the engagement and by daybreak CL Sumatra has cleared the range of mini-KB's Kates. Ive attached a screenshot of the current location of CL Sumatra....she will head to Darwin next turn but is not out of danger yet as she is low on fuel and can only proceed at mission speed.

Meanwhile.....the night of excitement continues for mini-KB. After escaping from CL Sumatra they come into the crosshairs of SS Swordfish:

Japan withdraws from San Fernando to Vigan just before the Allies launch an assault with 1500 AV.

The Japanese troops on Luzon are now pushed back to a tiny perimeter around Vigan and Laoag.....it really seems like 1945 on Luzon rather than 2/42.

Another 3 xAK blockade runners arrive at Naga/Legaspi to drop off another 10,000 supplies. I had stopped sending xAKs across the Pacific after Dave sent his DDs to intercept and sink an AK off Legaspi.....now only a single xAK is on the way towards the PI. The first blockade runners are already arriving back at Midway. I sent another 3 xAKs full of supplies from Peral Harbor last turn while another 9 xAKs with supplies were sent from Los Angeles to Midway and then the PI. With a little break in the action hopefully Dave forgets about the xAKs before the next batch arrives.

SOPAC

Dave invades at Kiriwina and Vella Lavella as Japan expands her grip across the Solomons.

Sigint

Got a report that the Chinese Expeditionary Army HQ is planning for Changsha.....maybe the whole Sian affair is just a diversion. Well I have the China Command HQ planning for Changsha so HQ prep should be a wash.

Got a report that 18th Division.....resting at Singapore......was planning for Langsa......dont understand this one....Japan could take northern Sumatra with a couple of SNLF/naval guard units.

CL Sumatra makes it safely to Darwin......refuels....and is now headed to Sydney for repairs.

On Java, Japan captures Madioen.

On Sumatra.....elements of both 5th and 18th Divisions storm ashore at deserted Langsa......dont quite understand this one.....virtually all of my troops have been withdran from western Sumatra to Palembang. KB stands by off the southern coast of Sumatra as IJA troops invade at Sebang and Medan.

The Chinese are holding on here but it looks like Dave's units are better prepped for Kweisui than mine so Im in the process of withdrawing to Paotow where I think I will have the advantage in LCU prep.

Japan's 5600 AV army in central China continues to rest at Nanyang.

The Japanese air force hammers the Chinese AF at Sian last turn but fortunately we had just withdrawn all of our fighters.

PHILIPPINES

Allied troops capture San Fernando.

The Japanese army in Luzon....some 25 LCUs....is reduced to a perimeter of Vigan and Laoag.

Allied xAKs from Hawaii continue to offload troops at Naga and Legaspi. Im starting to fortify at Naga and Legaspi so it wont be quite so easy next time for Japan when they come back.

Japan captures Medan and and Sabang on Sumatra. IJA troops storm ashore at Padang. An IJA armor regiment will shock attack into Djambi next turn.

Elements of 5th and 18th Divisions continue to mop up in western Sumatra.

On Java.....IJA troops invest Soerabaja.....its lightly defended so it will fall next turn.

33rd Division is on the way to Semarang to join 4th Division on Java.

When the final assaults go down on the Allied bastions of the DEI....we will have about 450 AV at Palembang and 1300 AV at Batavia.

Looks like Dave has scores of TKs in port at Singapore ready to scoop up fuel as soon as Palembang falls....or are they there to support a naval incursion into the Bay of Bengal in the very near future?

PHILIPPINES

Allied troops continue to consolidate their postions in Luzon to surround the Japanese in Vigan and Laoag. Dave sent a bombardment TF with BB Nagato into to bombard my troops at San Fernanado......casualties were light but BB Nagato took a torpedo from SS Salmon on the way out and will now be in a shipyard for some time.

I just got confirmation that BB Mutsu was sunk off Rabaul during the carrier strike a few days ago.....so with substantial damage to BB Yamashiro and now BB Nagato....Japan is down to 7 BBs for the next few critical months.

CBI

Japan invades at Port Blair and Little Andaman Is. What surprised me here was that Dave used a good chunk of 18th Division to invade Little Andaman Is.

There was no attack at Kweisui on the 2nd day of the turn as my troops had successfully withdrawn from Kweisui to Paotow. I can probably hold out in Paotow for a week or so before Japan rips open the Chinese defensive line in the north.......I have no answer here for lack of supplies and overwhelming Japanese airpower. Ive goy about 1000 AV marching NW from Lanchow now so hopefully they will be able to slow down the Japanese in the Mongolian desert.

Its a different story in central and southern China though as I still have supplies and enough base forces to put up a decent air defense.......Japan loses 43 AC this turn......mostly over China vs 15 Allied AC.

Central China is quiet as Dave withdraws 2/3rds of his 5600 AV army towards Sinyang(30 LCUs) and leaves a mere 15 LCUs behind to garrison Nanyang. Maybe Dave is switching targets from Sian to Changsha....at any rate.....I started moving 1500 AV from central China to Changsha a couple weeks ago and with the pressure off of Sian for now I can send more troops NW to fight Japan in the Gobi Desert.

Southern China had been quiet for a couple months as I formed my defensive line on Nanning/Canton/Kukong and Dave could not dislodge my Chinese from Canton. Now it looks as if he is trying to create a roach motel at Canton..... where Chinese troops can go in but they cant get out. He shipped in several armor units by sea to Canton and they have been moving rapidly in and out of Canton on all hexsides.....I think he is trying to control all the hexsides so my Canton army is fixed in place and cant get out. I was able to move in a LCU into Canton from the NW hexside 2 turns ago and now Im trying to withdraw my entire army from Canton next turn. Japanese armor is running circles around the Chinese as I think Dave is trying to close the all the hexsides in and out of Canton. I will have 650 Chinese AV shock attack IJA armor to the NW of Canton and another 850 AV shock attack IJA armor to the E of Canton next turn.

Japan captures Soerabaja.....Dave now controls all of eastern Java. I think he is waiting for 33rd Division to land and Semerang and then he will advance on Batavia.

Most of the Dutch and USAAF fighters remaining in the DEI are now based at Palembang and being swept by Japanese fighters every turn.

PHILIPPINES

Japan captures Cotabato.....I think that Dave will need to land more troops on Mindanao before he can assault Cayagan.

SWPAC/SOPAC

Japan captures Woodlark and Talasea.

The US buildup continue on New Caledonia and Fiji. The Allies have a level 5 AF at Noumea......a level 3 AF at Koumac and a level 4 AF at Nandi.

USN CARRIERS

Yorktown and Enterprise put into port to conduct repairs and maintenance.....Lucky E wiill repair the torpedo damage she received during the Rabaul raid. Lex and Sara enter port and will begin their 3/42 upgrades in a couple days.

Hornet leaves the eastern US for Panama and eventual deployment into the Pacific. I start getting F4F-4 replacements in 2 days.....I will finally be able to upgrade the obsolescent Buffaloes.

CHINA

Dave has the 4th Tank Regiment attack my units NW of Canton but with the withdrawal of the entire Chinese army from Canton it turns into a banzai attack:

I attached a screenshot to show the situation in northern China. Im making a last stand at Paotow with 350 Chinese AV. Japan has over 1200 AV to throw into the assault but I am on 3x terrain and probably have better prep. I hope to hold on here long enough to make a final defensive position in the rough terrain N of Lanchow in the area I circled on the map......reinforcements are on the way. Once Japan breaks through that position they will have open desert terrain all the way to Kichuan and Hami.

We are now 3 months into the war and though Japan continues to advance on nearly all fronts her rate of advance has markedly declined.

THE NAVAL WAR

So far there havent been too many surface engagements. I was able to engage several IJN surface raiders early in the war before they could reach Allied convoy lanes and Dave has done a good job of advancing mostly under the cover of land based air so there have been few opportunities for a naval ambush. The one major surface engagement that did occur was in Philippine waters when Force Z was comitted to attack an IJN cruiser TF..... that resulted in the loss of 1 IJN CA but BC Repulse was then sunk in turn by Betties.

No major carrier engagements yet....thankfully....but the USN pulled off a big carrier raid on Rabaul last month that sank 1 BB, 3 AMC, 3 DD and numerous smaller vessels.

Total naval losses so far look like this:

ALIIES:

4 BB, 1 BC, 1 CL, 7 DD, 5 SS, 4 AO, 3 TK, 8 AP and 79 AK/AKL.

JAPAN:

2 BB, 1 CA, 1 CL, 10 DD, 2 DMS, 1 TB, 4 SS, 3 SSX, 1 APD, 1 AO, 4 TK, 5 AMC, 1 AP and 27 AK/AKL. The game says that Japan lost BB Hyuga to a VH2 mine off Balikpappan but I dont believe it so in reality Japan has lost only a single BB(but at least 3 BBs are in shipyards repairing damage).

The Allies are doing about as well as they can at this juncture of the war. Dave isnt shy about using his bombers to support the ground war and consequently has lost a lot of his very experienced pre-war bomber pilots. The Allies on the other hand are losing a lot of 50-60 experience pilots but the training programs are starting to crank out 50 experience pilots so we are making up for our pilot losses.

The biggest problem for the Allied air forces is that the majority of their losses have been concentrated in 3 plane types: P-40E, H81-A3 and HurricaneIIb.

Im critically short in these 3 plane types in all theatres. In the CBI where the heaviest aerial combat is occurring my AVG has been rebuilt to nearly 80% strength as the squadrons upgrade to P-40Es but now the Hurricane squadrons are at less than 50%. I need to deploy new plane types and pilot pools to the CBI to keep up with attrition.

A squadron of P-38Es arrived in India a week ago and they went into combat for the 1st time last turn. I sent a squadron of Canadian KittyhawkIs to India but they are still training and it will be another month before they can see front line combat. Im going to send a couple of VMF squadrons with Texans to the CBI next turn......when they arrive in a month I will upgrade them to F4F-3s and -4s. I want to get the USMC pilot pool into combat in the CBI to augment the Brits and the USAAF pilot pools.

THE GROUND WAR

I think that the key to the war so far has been Japan going all in on taking out Singapore with 7 divisions....only to have them engage in a 3 week battle for the city that left them beat up and behind schedule. This has left Japan critically short of troops in other theatres.

In the Philippines, Japan is holed up in Vigan on Luzon and has only recently invaded Mindanao. The 38th Division was finally pulled from Canton and will join the 48th Division at Vigan but this will only help solidify their beachhead on Luzon....many more formations will be needed both to take this island and Mindanao.

In the DEI......Japan has invaded Java and Sumatra with fragments of the divisions disrupted at Singapore while the parent formations rest and continue to undisrupt their squads. If Dave wants a non river entry into Palembang he will need to march in from Padang/Djambi and that will take some time. In about a week all of the Dutch/Philippino/Chinese units that started the war with no prep will all reach 100 prep...and then they will all rapidly gain experience from the low 30s to the mid 40s. Delaying the Japanese even 3 more weeks before the final assaults at Batavia and Palembang will give the Allies much more experienced/rested/higher morale defenders.

Initial sigint reports led me to believe that Japan would launch Phase II of their offensive into the SWPAC/SOPAC/Australia as early as March 1942. Now Im not so sure about this but at any rate I dont see Japan embarking on Phase II until April at the earliest. India could be the target....we will just have to see. Ive really built up New Caledonia/Fiji to protect the sea lanes into SE Australia...the Allies now have over 400 land based AC in the region including a lot of USMC divebomber squadrons.

In the CBI....we were mostly in a stalemate in China as Dave tried to move on Sian but couldnt dislodge the Chinese from the forests. Now Japan is trying an end around play in the far north and we will see how that works out.

In Burma...things have mostly stalemated as Dave has only committed a single division....the Allies have fortified Myitkina and are hunkered down in Shwebo facing the Japanese army across the Irrawaddy River in Mandalay. Japan controls the Burma Road from Mandalay to Lashio to the outskirts of Paoshan.

The 6000 troop fragment of 4th Division remains at Djokjakarta.....I think that the parent unit of 4th Division is still resting at Port Moresby. No sign of the 33rd Division at Semarang yet.

On Sumatra....I just received sigint that elements of the 21st Division were on their way to Benkoelen....that would mean elements of 5th, 18th and 21st Divisions are or will soon be on Sumatra while their parent formations continue to rest and undisrupt squads at Singapore. No indication yet that we will be seeing the final assaults on Palembang or Batavia any time soon.

CBI

I had ordered the I Australian Corps to return to Australia over a month ago but remanded the order for most of the formation a week ago....3 regiments have already landed on Oz but the rest of the I Australian Corps will reinforce India.

Virtually every Allied transport AC in the game has been staged to Ledo and Imphal where they are flying supplies into China and Burma. Im forming a "Red Corps" in Calcutta.....the Chinese LCUs destroyed in combat in China that arrive in Chungking have had their reinforcements turned off....the ones that can be changed into a non-restricted HQ are being purchased with PPs and airlifted from Chengtu to Ledo and then railed to Calcutta...I now have 3 Chinese LCUs at Calcutta that will eventually build up to 750 squads with all the mmg/mortars/arty that they can carry...and when fully rebuilt they will help SEAC reopen the Burma Road.

Virtually the entire RAF and USAAF in India is now bombing the IJA 4th Mixed Regiment just outside of Paoshan. Early in the war after Dave captured Lashio he sent the 4th Mixed Regiment E towards Paoshan and it bulldogged 2 Chinese divisions before it as it advanced all the way to Paoshan. Now I have 450 Chinese AV at Paoshan and we will shock attack 4th Mixed Regiment across the river from Paoshan in 2 turns....after the Allied air force has severely disrupted it with about 10 days of non stop bombing. Hopefully the Chinese can push the 4th Mixed Regiment back W towards Lashio and start to reopen the Burma Road before IJA reinforcements can arrive from Singapore.

Dave added in the 110th Division and they cut right through the exhausted and starving Chinese. Now Dave has turned the Chinese flank in the far north and I dont think that I will be able to re-establish a defensive line. I think that instead I will borrow from the German defensive strategy during the winter of 1941 build a modified hedgehog defense.....fortify in the towns with supply and let the out of supply Japanese attack at will. Lanchow will remain in the MLR for China but the cities to the N and W of Lanchow will need to be individually defended. In over 25 games of WitP/CHS/BigB/AE Ive never had my front line broken in China before so this is new territory for me. If anyone has any ideas Im open to suggestions.

In the center of China....Dave rests 25 LCUs on the railroad at Sinyang.

In the south....Japan is beginning its Changsha offensive....not directly at Changsha but in a sweep to the SW of Changsha. The Japanese are forming up at Nanchang. Currently the Chinese have a contiguous defensive line from Changsha to the sea at Wenchow. The Japanese thrust from Nanyang will attempt to cut this line in two and isolate the Chinese at Chusien, Pucheng and Wenchow.

With the loss of Chengchow and Loyang and the close of the Burma Road China is critically short of supplies. All replacements have been turned off across China except for the corps at Wenchow that have their own abundant intrinsic source of supply. I will fight to keep Wenchow and its supply source for as long as possible. As mentioned before I have as many transport AC as possible flying supplies into China and the unrestricted destroyed LCUs reappearing in Chungking will be purchased and flown into India to rebuild.

In the far south Chinese troops will reoccupy Canton now that the roach motel effect has been negated.

Ive attached a map of the far north this turn and will post a map of the center/south next turn.

Dave continues his advance from Nanchang to the SW to isolate Changsha. We have so many Chinese formations in position that I cant really break out a sweat. Dave may beat me to my pre-planned defensive positions but that still cant prevent me from occupying the defensive positions. Here is a screenie of south east China:

Japan captures Kalidjati and Bandoeng as the noose tightens around Batavia.

The last USAAF fighter squadron.....P-40Bs.....left in the DEI is withdrawn. The Dutch are now on their own.

CARRIERS

KB and mini KB disappeared over a week ago. KB is probably somewhere in the Indian Ocean.....21st Division will be landing shortly at Benkoelen so I assume that KB would be in the vicinity to support.....I evacuated ports at Columbo and Perth over a week ago and put out picket ships in both areas...now Im evacuating Melbourne just to be sure that all of my important shipping is out of harm's way.

Lex and Sara are in port to have the 8" guns removed and add on some critical AA armament. CV Yorktown traverses the Panama Canal...loads up on fuel at Balboa....and heads out into the vast emptiness of the south Pacific.

PHILIPPINES

Japan landed 38th Division at Vigan......SS Pike put a torpedo in one of the troop transports. With 38th Division ashore Japan goes back on the offensive with 48th Division:

Back in December 1941 48th Division would have easily overrun this force. Now the equivalent of 1 and 2/3 Philippino divisions easily holds off 48th Division. Its gonnna take at least 7-8 divisions and a couple of months for Japan to capture Luzon now.

The next wave of Allied blockade runners reaches Philippine waters.

CBI

Japan pursues the Chinese retreating from Paotow and runs them down in open terrain:

The good thing about this is that Dave has moved his 40,000 troops off the main highway to pursue the Chinese on a secondary road towards Lanchow.....this means that Japan is not going into the vast hinterlands of western China for the time being...and there is no way his army will be able to assault Lanchow.

Even if Dave goes into western China later I have been given a brief respite to build my defenses there.

In southern China we are able to build a new defensive line from Chansha to the sea at Wenchow.

SIGINT

Ive gotten sigint reports the last couple of turns that the IJA 9th Tank Regiment and 1st Recon Regiment are planning for Chittagong. Im starting to believe the India scenario for Phase II of Japanese expansion. I have so much air and BFs in the south Pacific at Tanna/New Caledonia/Fiji that a Japanese offensive into this area would almost be suicidal. In fact...as the Americal Division reaches New Caledonia.....Ive decided to reinforce and build up the New Hebrides now. Ive flooded the seas around Truk and Rabaul with subs and there has been no IJN activity for a couple of weeks. Maybe at one time Dave had considered an _early_ offensive into the the south Pacific with 4th Division.....but as each day passes the likelyhood of a Japanese invasion here recedes....and I think there is no chance Japan will invade New Caledonia after they lose their amphib bonus.There has been no attempt to build up Port Moresby or Horn Island....the presence of a air HQ at Buna suggests that this will be the main Japanese airfield in SE New Guinea. It appears that Shortlands will be the southernmost developed base in the Solomons for Japan. Ive invested so much in this area of the south Pacific.....that it seems logical now to build up the New Hebrides and use this as a springboard for an offensive into the Solomons this summer.

Ive reinforced Australia with the 6th Australian Divsion , the 18th UK Division and a US Army regiment. If Japan invades Australia I can easily stage in 500 AC from New Caledonia and transports are on hand to stage in LCUs and BFs from New Caledonia. Im going to stage in many more xAPs to the south Pacific just in case Japan does invade India....then I can easily move troops/BFs from the south Pacific and Oz to India.

I got another sigint report that a SNLF was on the way to Diego Garcia....Im not going to reinforce here as KB is somewhere in the vicinity and Diego Garcia...while important....is not vital to the Allies. I can easily send reinforcements from Oz to Capetown and then from there to India. Im currently reinforcing Socotra....this island _IS_ vitally important for SLOC into India.

I'm betting that your opponent assumes there is no supply going into Luzon. He's been waiting because Luzon doesn't produce more supplies than you consume and you'll be easier and easier to defeat over time. Your blockade runners are going to make him wish he'd dealth with Luzon back in December. Kudos on your willingness to bet on a few xAK's for the return on the supplies that make it.

Bradley7735....I think you are right.....Dave doesnt know about my small xAKs bringing in supplies to Luzon. Ive just finished landing the 1st wave of xAKs with over 30,000 supplies on Luzon and now the 2nd wave of xAKs will start dropping supplies at Naga and Legaspi. Its really helped to move the Cebu/Cavite/Bataan BFs to Legaspi and Naga as the small ports can now easily unload a 3200 capacity xAK each every turn.

3/11-3/12/42

DEI

Japan is again repulsed at Tilatjap in a 1:2 attack.

IJA armor invests Buitenzorg....I just reinforced here with Dutch armor and will try to hold on here as well as Batavia and Merak.

No sign of the big siege divisions on either Java or Sumatra yet. The Japanese telephine pole of LCUs is getting shorter at Singapore so either troops are being transported to the DEI with shipping or they are moving overland to reinforce Burma.

CBI

In far northern China the Allied position seems less precarious now as Dave seems content to just chase down and annihilate the former defenders of Paotow/Kweisui. Ive heavily reinforced Lanchow and Hami and for now the front appears to be stabilizing.

All quiet in central China.

Dave has sent a lot of his armor from central China to southern China and is massing for a breakthrough around Chuhsien/Pucheng:

There is a lot of good defensive terrain in SE China and I have a lot of reserves on the way so the situation is in a state of flux.

In SW China we continue to pursue the defeated IJA 4th Mixed Regiment to the Burmese border.

Dave massed a large air force in Hanoi/Haiphong and overwhelmed the the Chinese air forces based at Kunming....several valuable Hurricanes were destroyed on the ground in the process.

In Burma.....Burma corps has evacuated Shwebo and has withdrawn to the forests W of Myitkina.

Im thinking the next big Japanese blow will come in this theatre...I just received sigint that 2 more IJA LCUs were planning for Chittagong. There are currently 4 Australian I corps brigades offloading at Karachi and Ive sent a Canadian brigade and some US regiments from my reserve at Capetown to reinforce India. Even if Dave doesnt make a big push into India I want troops on the ground here to open up a 2nd or 3rd front against Japan by late 1942.

SWPAC/SOPAC

Quiet.

Japan continues to build up in the Solomons.

US forces will begin to land in the New Hebrides next turn.

PHILIPPINES

IJA troops attempting to break out of the Vigan beachead rest this turn as Allied reinforcements reach the battlefield.

On Mindanao......IJA troops begin to close in on Cayagan from 3 directions. I have a lot of AV at Cayagan so the end is not yet imminent......still I am accelerating the 3rd wave of resupply ships from Hawaii to Luzon as I fear that a Japanese airfield at Cayagan will shut down Allied resupply efforts to Luzon.

I currently have replacements turned on for all Philippino/American LCUs on Luzon but as soon as it becomes apparent that the flow of supplies into Luzon has been cut off I will need to turn off the replacements for everyone.

Rumor has it that Japan has declared was on the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands. You wouldnt know it from this game though as we seem to be devolving into War In China as opposed to War in the Pacific. Other than my subs....who seem to bounce a half dozen torpedoes off IJN hulls on a daily basis.....I havent seen an IJN ship or sub in a few days.

CHINA

The good news is that we were able to ambush several Japanese air strikes and overall Japan lost 54 AC last turn opposed to 22 Allied AC.

The bad news is Japan killed us with a couple of 1:2 attacks that resulted in pyrric Allied "victories".

In the north....Japan railed over 3300 AV...their former central China army....to the hex adjacent to Tsiaotso and launched a 1:2 attack:

I wasnt worried previously about Tsiaotso...I had some 760 AV in 3x terrain with intrinsic supply and level 3 forts......but Japan's 1:2 attack devastated the Chinese. What I dont understand about the combat results here is that Japan suffered 25% more casualties than the Chinese....2400 casualties to 1900 casualties....yet the Chinese had almost twice as many squads disrupted/destroyed.....go figure. Ive got over 300 AV in reserve in the adjacent hex but at this rate Japan may break through before the reinforcements can arrive....and a breakthrough here could threaten the flank of Sian.

In the south Dave launched another 1:2 attack on us with his massed armor:

With a lack pof anti-tank guns and heavy weapons the Chinese were absolutely crushed by IJA armor in an attack that they technically "won". I had both the Chinese anti-tank regiments in the forests around Sian earlier and in one turn of IJA attacks with massed armor they knocked out 195 vehicles. Ive got one of the anti-tank regiments heading to the south but it wont arrive for a couple of months...and the IJA armor was able to redploy in the south in a week. My strategy of digging in and building defensive positions in favorable terrain isnt working as Dave is just able to bring in amor and heavy weapons and hit the weakest points in my line. He has stripped his front line to build up his offensive forces...and Japan is critically weak in several front line cities..... cities like Nanyang and Nanchang.

Im switching over to Chinese human wave attacks starting next turn...it will burn up my supplies but just sitting in defensive positions is getting the Chinese army cut up piece by piece anyway. I was able to kill the IJA 4th Armored Regiment and almost killed the 2nd Armored Regiment in clear terrain outside Canton with human wave assaults. If I can lure his armor stack into clear terrain I may have a chance to shock attack it into oblivion.

Dave reinforced his army at Vigan with another 1 1/2 divisions....he has over 65,000 troops on Luzon now. Well I achieved what I wanted here.....I wanted Japan to have to commit additional forces here rather than invade India or Oz. I will now slowly pull back to the chokepoint on Luzon at San Fernando/Bayombong where the island narrows and the terrain is favorable for defending.

IJA troops storm ashore at Cebu.

CHINA

Dave's 150,000 strong army in central China throws the Chinese out of Tsiaotso with heavy losses:

Im switching over to the offensive this turn and will shock attack Nanyang with 3600 AV while 1200 AV will shock attack Nanchang next turn. Additional armies will advance to threaten Loyang, Hangchow and Wuchang.

In western China we regain the Burmese border as the 4th Mixed Regiment is forced back out of China:

Looks like Dave brought 18th and 33rd Divisions here in addition to elements of the 4th and 16th Divisions. I think that I should be able to hold out here for a bit.....it just depends on how effective the upcoming naval bombardments are.

The Japanese are thrown back in 1:2 assaults at Buitenzorg and Tilatjap.

I withdrew thew remainder of the Dutch air forces on Java this turn....it was just becoming too easy for Japan to score points by destroying Dutch AC.

On Sumatra.....Japan captures Djambi and closes in on Palembang.

CBI

The Japanese armor in the south finally breaks through and defeats the Chinese in 3x terrain:

It looks as if the Japanese armor will continue to drive SE towards Pucheng.....both sides have troops approaching Pucheng in all directions. This is becoming an interesting development as 1200 Chinese AV will shock attack into Nanchang next turn.....and then there is really nothing in the way to prevent me from securing the Nanchang/Hankow highway and that should put the IJA troops around Pucheng out of supply.

Losing a shock attack is about the worst thing you can do in AE. I had bombed 40th Division for 4 days so they were pretty disrupted....and next turn 900 Chinese AV will assault them and put them out of their misery. Crushing 40th Division and taking Nanchang should open up a huge hole in the rear of the Japanese in south central China..

I have another 2500 Chinese AC approaching Wuchang from Changsha so that makes over 5000 Chinese AV threatening to invest Wuchang/Hankow.....and currently there are only 1300 troops in Hankow. Dave moved 5 LCUs out to meet my Ichang army and keep me from entering Hankow next turn. I will attempt to destroy the 5 LCUs next turn...I think Dave just wanted to delay me here so his 150,000 strong army up in Tsiaotso can be railed into Hankow/Wuchang next turn.

Just to keep things interesting for Japan I moved another 2100 Chinese AV adjacent to Loyang.....so that should give Dave some options as to where to deploy his 3600 IJA AV in Tsiaotso.

Massive land combat across China this turn. The largest battle was just outside of Hankow. I had 2400 Chinese AV in the hex NW of Hankow and was ordering an assault on 7 unidentified LCUs....unknown to me was that the hex contained 5 IJA divisions. Dave had other ideas. He sent over 300 AC on aerial bombardment of the Chinese stack and then launched his own assault first:

The 5 IJA divisions are crushed and suffer over 20,000 casualties....the remnants retreat into Hankow. Unfortunately with 4x terrain in Hankow I cant really exploit my success here. Next to Hankow.......another Chinese army begins to invest Wuchang.

Farther south.....another Chinese army shock attacks their way into Nanchang:

We have now punched a 2 hex hole in Japanese lines here. Part of the Chinese army will shock attack into Kiukiang while the rest of the troops race down the undefended Nanchang/Hangchow highway to cut supply to Japanese armies in the region.

It looks like the Japanese are low on supplies here and 400 Chinese AV will invest Chuhsien next turn so this will make things interesting in south central China. The massed IJA armor can continue its rampage through the rear of the Chinese but their supply line is very much in question.

Dave said in his email to me that Japan had suffered a major disaster in China this turn. Six IJA divisions were chewed up and now Wuchang has been invested and Chinese armies sit just outside Hankow and Loyang. Nanchang was captured and the Chinese threaten to sever the Nanchang/Hangchow highway. The 3600 AV IJA army at Tsiaotso disappeared this turn...no doubt its being railed somewhere...I cant invest Hankow or Loyang or even advance with my 3600 AV Chinese army in Nanyang until I know where the main Japanese stack has railed to.

DEI

Japan launches their 1st assault on Batavia and are repulsed with heavy casualties:

I noticed you are keeping your Chinese Corps split into there sub elements (A,B,C) even in the attack. I was interested in your logic. I generally try to rebuild formations in the attack as losses appear to disproportionately hit smaller formations, but you have gone the opposite direction....And I certainly can't argue with your success.

Fantastic stuff Admiral, lots to like in this AAR, the counter offensive, the carrier raid on Rabaul, the blockade runners fueling the Luzon drives. Obviously Dave's a good player and it looks like when his guard is down you're countering in all the right spots. Good work!!!

SuluSea.....thanx for your comments. The game has been a lot of fun so far and currently Im doing pretty well in China.....but ultimately I think that I will be in trouble in China and its incumbent on me to open up another theatre or 2 to siphon off IJA formations as quickly as I can.

Wirraway_Ace.....good point on breaking down the Chinese into sub-corps units. I do that at the start of the game to help recover disabled squads and increase reinforcement rates but generally I rebuild the corps as soon as they are mostly undisrupted.....but I never rebuild a corps unless Im able to upgrade the commander...helps me keep track of which corps still require upgraded commanders. Here Im using a lot of corps that have recently seen combat and need their squads undisrupted.....and also a lot of corps that were 2nd echelon troops that are being used for the 1st time and to a large extent I have been guilty of being distracted so much that I forgot to rebuild the corps before attacking last turn. You were correct in your assumption that its better to rebuild the corps before attacking as _long_ as you upgrade the corps commander.

CHINA COUNTEROFFENSIVE

The Japanese massed armor stack rampaging behind our lines in south central China crushes the Chinese formation outside of Pucheng that it had roughed up a couple of turns ago:

The remnants of this Chinese formation retreat into Pucheng and Im sure that the IJA armor will follow them into Pucheng and hit them again.

The only thing I can do to counter this is cut his supply line in south central China.....and to effect this I am both advancing down the Nanchang/Hangchow higfhway and also re-entering Chuhsien. Just outside of Chuhsien the IJA 22nd Division losses a 1:2 counterattack:

Ive been bombing the 22nd Division for a few days so its fatigue and disruption is building.....Ive got 400 Chinese AV entering Chuhsien this turn which can then approach 20th Division from the east......while just NW of 20th Division poor decimated 40th Division is being bombed and pursued and in a couple of turns I have a feeling that all of these formations will reach the same point in space and time.....again it should be interesting.

Meanwhile Chinese troops are marching to shock attack their way into Kiukiang.

About 2800 Chinese AV invest Wuchang this turn.

Ive left my Ichang Army outside Hankow, my 3700 AV South Sian Army at Nanyang and my 2200 AV Southeast Sian Army outside Loyang until I see where Dave commits his 150,000 troops that were at Tsiaotso a couple of turns ago.

Inland from Amoy....another Japanese attack is thwarted against a Chinese roadblock:

Ive attacked a screenshot of the Philippines as Allied xAKs almost form a continuous chain across the Pacific from Luzon to Hawaii. Our 2nd wave of resupply ships has mostly made it to Luzon now and the 3rd wave of resupply ships is now leaving Hawaiian waters. So far at least 20 xAKs have made it thru to drop off over 60,000 supplies at a cost a single xAK.

Ive drawn a line in purple on the map where I will be constructing my defensive line as Dave continues to reinforce Luzon. I can defend here by occupying a mere 2 hexes at San Fernando and Bayombong....both in good defensive terrain.

Dave had been bombing Manila/Clark from Day 1 of the war to keep me from building fortifications. One of the reasons I reoccupied most of Luzon was to divert the IJAAF so that I could entrench at these bases......well now Clark....my final bastion on Luzon.....has level 4 forts so I will move some of the engineers up to start fortifying the San Fernando/Bayombong line.

It was a busy work week and there was a lot going on in this game so I didnt have a lot of time to really go thru the combat results. Now its the weekend and I havent received a turn in a couple days so I had a chance to review the combat in China over the last couple of days.

Dave has been sending his armor stack thru my lines in south central China like a hot knife thru butter and I cant stop it...I can only delay it by sending fresh Chinese formations in front of it to get chewed up.

My only option is to cut off supply to his Panzer Korps and to do that I have captured Nanchang and am trying to overrun the Nanchang/Hangchow and Nanchang/Chuhsien highways.

The 22nd Diviison and the Kyuko Naval Guard have lost 113 squads out of approximately 475 squads over the last 2 turns......almost 25% casualties....and they must have suffered considerable disruption after two consecutive 1:2 assaults. Meanwhile 13th Tank Regiment is sitting as a dead duck in Chuhsien trying to recover its disabled tankettes. I had 400 Chinese AV enter Chuhsien this turn and next turn they will annihilate 13th Tank Regiment in a human wave shock attack. Then I will have full control of the Nanchang/Chuhsien highway and the Jap Panzer Korps will be out of supply. Im staging bombers from India down to China to continue to pound 22nd and 40th Divisons and then I will close in on both Divisions from multiple directions. I should be able to severely disrupt both divisions and maybe even put up a significant threat against Hangchow.

The only good tankette is a dead tankette. I apologize for this 2 day old screenshot but I havent received a new turn in a couple of days:

Here is a screenshot of Allied plane losses to date. With the Dutch air force mostly withdrawn from Java the vast majority of Japanese and Allied plane losses now are taking place over CBI. Note how the Hurricane IIb losses have ramped up since the last time I posted plane losses a little over a month ago. The Hurricane IIbs have basically carried the Allied war effort for the last month and many Hurricane squadrons are at partial strength..... but they have given the Allies the breathing room they needed while the AVG rebuilt their squadrons with P-40Es.

Now the Hurricanes will have a bit of help in the CBI. An experienced P-38E squadron has been fully fleshed out and will come online next turn. A Canadian Kittyhawk squadron is still training but should be available by early April. The Allies now have a reserve of nearly 70 P-40Es from the ABDA withdrawals and the Chinese are converting their first squadron over to the H81-A3s and will have P-43 Lancers available in April.

And finally here is a screenshot of the top Allied aces. Note that 3 of the top 4 pilots and 4 of the top ten are Hurricane drivers......indicative of the Hurricanes being thrown into the breech over CBI for the last month.